Thursday, August 28, 2014

FANTOME DE SANG "PURGATOIRE MALVEILLANT" 5CDr (AOW 224)

After the experimental long-form punishment of "Vortex," Fantome De Sang returns with another atypical outing, this time eschewing violence in favor of morbidity, hollowness, nostalgiah, dread, and bitter reflection.  An entirely ambient affair, "Purgatoire Malveillant" gives itself over wholly to more expansive and deep sound explorations, rejecting expectation and unveiling a monumental work that will surely alienate some and help others attain transcendence.  The skeletal remains of "Maladif Lune," perhaps?  The onus is on the listener.  Perception and complicity as a statement of intent.  This is not a new beginning, nor is it a condemnation of what once was.  This is merely an aspect.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $25 ppd. in the United States, $38 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "ENSLAVED 1992 - 1997" 10CDr (AOW 223)

Exhaustive reworking of Enslaved's early nineties output, from the 1992 "Yggdrasill" demo up through 1997's "Eld."  Enslaved created an absolute blur of caustic and frigid black metal symphonics; as a band they were technically light years ahead of many of their contemporaries, and before they began leaning towards a more progressive concept of black metal, the work they turned in left a scarring mark on the Scandinavian musical landscape.  In working with these five recordings, I have sought to bring out both the extreme violence and intensity of Enslaved's approach as well as their loftier conceptuality, their penchant for demanding thought and consideration from their listeners.  Enslaved's project extends well beyond music, especially as they've moved further away from their BM roots.  Allow this set to be a meditation and a conflagration.
Packaged in a twin volume DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $50 ppd. in the United States, $63 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Monday, August 25, 2014

CORY STRAND "UNDER THE SKIN: A REINTERPRETATION" 10CDr (AOW 222)

My expansive and engulfing drone/HNW rework of Mica Levi's challenging score to Jonathan Glazer's sensually indifferent cosmic void excursion "Under The Skin."  Since Levi's original work is already quite discordant, ambient, and droned out the challenge became one of harnessed aesthetics as opposed to all out transformation; rather than warp or destroy i sought to inhabit and (deathly) blossom.  I chose to split the album into two distinct sections, drone and HNW, to reflect both the film's intensity and its tension.  The result is some of the most empty and troubling ambient music i've made, full of malice and stress with few melodic elements.  Even those few pieces that suggest melody immolate it by taking it to an infinite: change is illusive if not imagined, or perhaps felt rather than noticeably perceived.  The HNW discs are deep-toned destructionist pieces that illustrate a more hellish side of drone, stoic and implacable but malevolent and violent.
Packaged in a twin volume DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $60 ppd. in the United States, $73 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com                                                                      

Friday, August 22, 2014

SMALL HOURS "OLIVIA II" CDr (DELUXE SLIPCASED PHOTOBOOK + BONUS CDr) (AOW 211)

PLEASE NOTE: This is a pre-order item.  At the artist's request, this release is an edition of 5 copies.  I am doing this one as a pre-order because of the expense-once the release has sold out on pre-order (or enough copies that I can reasonably make up the difference out of pocket), I will send everything out to be manufactured.  I know this is an expensive item; it is, quite simply, the most lavish release i've done with the label.  I want everyone to know that I am not taking ANY profit on this-the price I am asking is the manufacturing cost of each one of these (in all honesty, i will LOSE money shipping them out!)  I believe in JK's work enough and the beauty of this package that I want it to be out there for those interested.  This one is a contract of sorts between myself as label curator and the label's supporters who order the record.

Small Hours returns to Altar Of Waste with a sequel of sorts to the project's "Olivia I" release, an album that was issued privately in the UK to a handful of allies.  While this release is equally limited (a scant five copies, at the artist's request) it is more than worthy of your attention, brimming over with JK's usual incredibly crunchy/crumbly walls.  Far from stagnant, the tones and textures slowly warp themselves and change noticeably as the tracks play out, becoming more and more punishing and dense.  From brooding lava sludgepiles to seriously intense whirlwind type distortion clouds, Olivia Newton John's work is honored by Small Hours.  Another brilliant release from one of the genre's most creative minds.
As stated, this is the most involved and artful release i've done through Altar Of Waste.  Packaged as a laminated hard-bound book, which in turn houses another softbound book inside of it, with six glossy pages of photographs of Olivia Newton John from her most creatively pure and fertile period, as well as the pertinent release info.  The entire thing is housed inside a hard outer slipcase with SMALL HOURS imprinted on the front.  It's crazy and I can't wait to see them!  To help offset the price, JK has graciously allowed me to include a CDr version of "Olivia I" as well, which was previously only available as a privately issued release for a UK tape swap.  This CDr version will have full-colour artwork in the fold-over AOW packaging (fold-over covers housed in clear plastic bags.)
Releases in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $75 ppd. in the United States, $83 rest of world.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

CORY STRAND "ETERNALLY BLEAK" DVD-R (AOW 221)

Another epochal drone composition, this time created utilizing elements of Carter Burwell's score for the film "Fargo."  Over six hours of bleak, glacially plodding, winterized uberdrone to waste away with, a cosmic reckoning brimming over with nihilistic emptiness and despair.  This one is a bit darker than "The Nature Of Things," more concerned with hopelessness than meditation.  Time wastes itself as it wastes all of us.
Please note this is a DVD-R.  To extract the song you have to play it on a computer.  Definitely meant for headphones, in the dark, alone.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $33 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

CORY STRAND "THE NATURE OF THINGS" DVD-R (AOW 220)

The companion album to "Blood Has Been Shed" trades that record's all-out violence for a seemingly infinite period of meditation and tense inner reflection.  "The Nature Of Things" is a just over 5 hour deep drone excursion into thoughts of causal relationships and karmic retribution, and the attempt to reconcile meaning with absurdity.  We feel the world gives us omens and harbingers, but it doesn't.  Existence is coincidence; actions have consequences.  For many in the "Fargo" universe, this is a lesson that is never learned, even as those same individuals experience its teachings in brutal and punishing ways.  This is an epic drift, sonorous and glacial, seemingly ancient in its indifference.
Please note this is a DVD-r; you have to put it into your computer in order to extract the song.  Hopefully the expansive runtime will allow you moments of personal reflection and understanding.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $33 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED" DVD-R (AOW 219)

Having been very inspired by all my recent work with the "Fargo" universe, I decided to try an experiment in excess, creating a pair of massive recordings utilizing large portions of Jeff Russo's score for the television series.  The first of these, "Blood Has Been Shed," is a crushing 3.5 hour psychedelic HNW onslaught, a relentless and destructive suite of audio terror that will (hopefully) stretch the threshholds of endurance for many listeners.  It is absolutely a challenge and a statement, as well as an interesting piece of sound art.  If you like my noise work there is no doubt you'll enjoy this as well-it's simply a matter of how much of it you can take.
Please note that this is a DVD-R; you have to put it into your computer to extract the song (that you pretty much have to listen to this through headphones is part of its intensity.)  Good luck!
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $20 ppd. in the United States, $33 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Monday, August 18, 2014

CORY STRAND "FARGO: REVISITED" 10CDr (AOW 213)

PLEASE NOTE: This will be included in the "Fargo: Complete" box set.  Only order this version if you do not plan on ordering the box set, or if you are a completist and want this version (it has different artwork than the box set version.)


Stand-alone version of AOW 213, my rework of the score from the television series.  What's most brilliant about Jeff Russo's magnificently beautiful and minimalist score, and about the series "Fargo" overall, is how subtly, yet powerfully, it connects itself to the Coen Brothers film.  These worlds are so interrelated and the aesthetic and philosophical concerns so connected, in every note, every word, every action, and every consequence.  It's a towering work of cinematic art, one that both closes off and expands upon the Coen's nihilistic universe in unique and brutal ways. 
In working with Russo's score I have sought to tie it to my own previous work with "Fargo" the film, in that the sounds here seem connected to the ones found on the film soundtrack rework.  Differences are subtle but intense; violence is lurking in every dark pocket, karmic punishment in every forgotten act looms and shivers.  The ten discs here are a tour de force of tense and frigid drone, hinting at a buried melodicism and the sorrowful memories of a life that never truly was.  "Is this what you want?  Yes or no."
Packaged in a twin-volume DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $70 ppd. in the United States, $83 rest of world.


ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Saturday, August 16, 2014

CORY STRAND "KUBRICK: THE ESSENTIAL SOUNDTRACKS" 20CDr BOX SET (AOW 218)

A huge new solo work focusing on the master of masters, Stanley Kubrick.  Though i've worked with some Kubrick films in the past (both A Clockwork Orange and my large series of work focused on The Shining), they were much more appreciations of Wendy Carlos than Kubrick, whereas this set is an exploration of Kubrick's soundtrack ouevre in truly expanded form.  The 20 discs are HNW and ambient reworks of the soundtracks to nine different films from Kubrick; the resultant whole is a massive homage to a true visionary, a personality who for many (myself included) marks the highest level of cinematic artistry one can achieve. 
The included/reworked film soundtracks are: Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut.
Packaged as a 20 CDr box set, with the HNW discs in DVD cases and the ambient dics in fold-over covers within clear plastic bags.  Each of the 20 discs have their own artwork, utilizing images from and associated with the films.  The entire set is housed in a painted box with a paste on cover, an insert with my liner notes for each soundtrack rework, an insert with the release info and catalogue number, and a signed/numbered insert from me.  Released in an edition of 5 copies.  $140 ppd. in the United States, $153 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "THE BLIZZARD" CDr (AOW 165D)

PLEASE NOTE: After discussions between Nar and myself, we've decided to offer all of the albums from our split singly.  The box set will still be available for those that want it; we just recognize it's quite expensive, especially for our friends overseas, and we both love the works enough that we want people to be able to acquire them in a more affordable manner.  The albums themselves are not numbered, as the numbering was done on the box sets.  Each album is an edition of 15.

My second album from the split is about the most direct summoning of a winter atmosphere i could conceive of, a field recording of a massive blizzard turned into a suffocatingly thick and torturous cloud of slow-motion, sludged-out wall disease.  The second piece is some epic drifting ANW, deep and sonorous.  Beautiful winter uberdrone.
Packaged in a DVD case in an unnumbered edition of 15 copies (only the box sets were numbered.)  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "HYPNOTHERMIA" CDr (AOW 165C)

PLEASE NOTE: After discussions between Nar and myself, we've decided to offer all of the albums from our split singly.  The box set will still be available for those that want it; we just recognize it's quite expensive, especially for our friends overseas, and we both love the works enough that we want people to be able to acquire them in a more affordable manner.  The albums themselves are not numbered, as the numbering was done on the box sets.  Each album is an edition of 15.

My first album for the split is an evocation of black metal's primacy, numbing repetition and lofi severity; the two pieces here represent a further blurring of the lines between my myriad projects, as you can hear elements of both Dreamless and Fantome De Sang here, married to my psychedelic wallcraft.  There was considerable effort and desire from me and Nar to make these records different and special, and I feel we truly achieved it.  "Hypnothermia" stands as a personal favorite amongst my works, blending the warmth of an organic, improvised approach with the frigid digital intensity of wall manipulation.
Packaged in a DVD case in an unnumbered edition of 15 copies (only the box sets were numbered.)  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

NAR "WINTER WARRIORS" CDr (AOW 165B)

PLEASE NOTE: After discussions between Nar and myself, we've decided to offer all of the albums from our split singly.  The box set will still be available for those that want it; we just recognize it's quite expensive, especially for our friends overseas, and we both love the works enough that we want people to be able to acquire them in a more affordable manner.  The albums themselves are not numbered, as the numbering was done on the box sets.  Each album is an edition of 15.

The second of Nar's contributions to our split, "Winter Warriors"  is a painfully severe assault of relentless HNW vomit (meant in the best possible way.)  Crumbling and bitter, caustic and flowing like a mountain.  A true evocation of the winter wastes.
Packaged in a DVD case in an unnumbered edition of 15 copies (only the box sets were numbered).  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

NAR "VAERET SOM BEGRAVER" CDr (AOW 165A)

PLEASE NOTE: After discussions between Nar and myself, we've decided to offer all of the albums from our split singly.  The box set will still be available for those that want it; we just recognize it's quite expensive, especially for our friends overseas, and we both love the works enough that we want people to be able to acquire them in a more affordable manner.  The albums themselves are not numbered, as the numbering was done on the box sets.  Each album is an edition of 15.

The first of Nar's two albums from our split released early this year, "Vaeret Som Begraver" is simply superlative void-worshiping HNW of the absolute highest caliber.  Massive, deep, crumbling walls of endless cold and numbness.  The three engulfing pieces here seem infinite and frighteningly yawning, like the sound of dimensions folding in the cosmos.
Packaged in a DVD case, in an unnumbered edition of 15 copies (only the box sets are numbered.)  $10 ppd. in the United States, $23 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

CORY STRAND "DEAD POETS SOCIETY: A REINTERPRETATION" 2CDr

I heard of Robin Williams' suicide last night as I was working on another project.  The impact was immediate and I felt a true sadness at the loss of such an original and iconoclastic performer.  As my way of remembering him, I've produced this double album-a rework of the OST to my favorite Robin Williams film (and one of my favorite films overall), Peter Weir's masterful elegy to self-actualization, "Dead Poets Society."  The power of its message, and the enormous presence of Williams as John Keating, simply does not diminish.  I loved this film as a teenager and I still love it as an adult.  It makes me cry every time i watch it, and I am not embarassed to say so.
The music here is fittingly lovely and elegiac.  The final piece on the album is an original 24 minute synthesizer improvisation that I will offer as my tribute to Robin; it is one of the loveliest things I have created and I hope it's worthy.  This is not an official release-rather, it is something made from a place of response and feeling.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $15 ppd. in the United States, $28 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

Sunday, August 10, 2014

CORY STRAND "FARGO: A REINTERPRETATION" 5CDr (AOW 215)

PLEASE NOTE: This will be included in the "Fargo: Complete" box set.  Only order this version if you do not plan on ordering the box set, or if you are a completist and want this version (it has different artwork than the box set version.)

Stand-alone version of AOW 215, the rework of Carter Burwell's epochal and beautifully minimalist score for the Coen Brothers' 1996 masterpiece "Fargo."  I saw this film in 1996 (my parents rented it for me, of all things) and it quickly became a favorite for its bleak and absurd nihilsitic look at life in the northern Midwest; to this day it remains one of my very favorite films.  I had started work on this album quite awhile ago; i had originally intended to record it for Occult Supremacy, but never quite liked the direction it was moving in.  I took a long break from it; when I came back to it and started in on it again, I found the tones and sounds I was looking for.  The score is stretched out and blurred considerably, becoming hazy and nebulous, but still retaining its melodic and tense undercurrents.  A quiet storm, perhaps.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $25 ppd. in the United States, $38 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

CORY STRAND "THE WOODCHIPPER" 2CDr (AOW 217)

Inspired by my work with Carter Burwell's "Fargo" soundtrack (and containing elements from it), "The Woodchipper" is an all-new stand-alone four piece suite of HNW agony in honor of one of the film's most overtly violent and ludicrous elements.  Since my work with the soundtrack proper was in the ambient/drone realm, i wanted to create something that referenced the more physically destructive and nihilisitc aspects of the film; the four pieces here are all crafted from the same basic source track, manipulated in a number of different ways to achieve texturally rich and varied results.  The focus here is on detail; i believe the pieces on "The Woodchipper" showcase a sonic wealth of pyschedelic, aching wallcraft.  Artful beauty in the face of nullifying violence.
Please note that this is a stand-alone album and is not part of the "Fargo: Complete" series of recordings; this album will NOT be included in the box set.
Packaged in a DVD case in a limited edition of 5 hand-numbered copies.  $15 ppd. in the United States, $28 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com

BLUE VELVET: VOORAM (AOW 216F)

Sixth installment of the series, from Vooram.  I gave Ian another one of the hardest tracks to work with, "Honky Tonk, Pt. I," and the results here are pretty masterful.  Crushing, crunchy, crumbling feedbacky walls of pulsing static that evoke sexualized threats of violence and dominion over normalcy, the night's call to action and a brutally rude opening of the eye to the terrors hidden deep within the inky night.  An odyssey with no end other than horror.
Packaged in a fold-over cover in a clear plastic bag, in a limited edition of 15 hand-numbered copies.  $7 ppd. in the United States, $20 rest of world.

ORDER HERE: www.altarofwasterecords.storenvy.com